Method and system for automating node configuration to facilitate peer-to-peer communication

Abstract

A method and system for configuring one or more prospective-participant nodes as participant nodes so as to enable the prospective-participant nodes to engage in a peer-to-peer communication is provided. In one exemplary embodiment, the method and system may be embodied as a common application that includes logic, in hardware or software form, for carrying out one or more of the functions for configuring one or more prospective-participant nodes as a participant node in a peer-to-peer network. In carrying out these functions, one of the participant nodes discovers its network connection settings, and based on these settings, generates participant-node-configuration data that includes one or more network connection settings that define how to address the prospective-participant node as a participant node. When desiring to join the peer-to-peer network, the prospective-participant node and the participant node may establish a point-to-point communication link by engaging in a discovery process using so as to establish a data-link layer connection. After completing negotiation of the data-link-layer connection, the prospective-participant node and the participant node may communicate over the data-link-layer connection. The prospective-participant node may send to the participant node a request for network access. Responsively, the participant node sends to the prospective-participant node the participant-node-configuration data over the point-to-point connection. And the prospective-participant node configures itself using the participant-node-configuration data so as to become a participant node.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates, in general, to computer networks. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and system for automatically and dynamically configuring one or more prospective participant nodes as participants in a peer-to-peer network to enable to the prospective participant nodes to engage in peer-to-peer communication with other participant nodes. This invention is particularly useful for automatically and dynamically configuring one or more prospective wireless-participant nodes as participants in a peer-to-peer network to enable the prospective wireless-participant nodes to engage in peer-to-peer communication with other participant nodes, wireless or otherwise.[0003]2. Description of Related Art[0004]Local Area Networks (LANs) allow users of the LANs to exchange information between interconnected or communicatively coupled computers, commonly referred to as stations or nodes. LANs beneficially allow the mem...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022]One embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method and system for configuring or “setting up” a prospective-participant node as a participant node in a peer-to-peer network, to enable the prospective-participant node to engage in a peer-to-peer communication in the peer-to-peer network with other participant nodes. As used herein, a “participant node” is a node that is already configured to engage in peer-to-peer communication with one or more other nodes in a peer-to-peer network, while a “prospective participant node” is a node that is not yet configured to engage in peer-to-peer communication in the network. To facilitate the setting up of the prospective-participant node as a participant node in the peer-to-peer network, each of the participant nodes is configured with one or more respective network connection settings, which define how to address the participant node in the peer-to-peer network.

Problems solved by technology

Configuring nodes to engage in peer-to-peer communication in a peer-to-peer LAN, however, can be difficult since there is no node in the peer-to-peer LAN having a central repository of configuration information similar to the configuration information managed by the server and supplied to the client in a client / server architecture LAN.

This difficulty may become more evident when large distances separate one node from another and configuration information for the peer-to-peer network cannot be directly communicated between the nodes.

Further, given that peer-to-peer networks may be established using wireless and / or wired transmission media, and given that there are many different transmission technologies for these media, managing the configuration information for the different media and transmission technologies becomes even more daunting when the configuration information cannot be directly communicated between the nodes.

As noted above, the IP address of each node must be unique, otherwise confusion results regarding which node should receive a communication, or more specifically an addressed packet of information.

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